[Invited Tasting] T.K Kitchen 小厨 @ 710 荣发 (Rong Fa) Coffeeshop Clementi

We ventured to this place nestled amongst the HDB flats in the Clementi West Street 2 neighbourhood area. Went passed quite a few coffeeshop before coming to this one. T.K Kitchen is one of the stall in this coffeeshop. Its main outlet is at Blk 37, Teban Gardens #01-302, S600037.

T.K Kitchen

menu

Left it to the Chef to introduce the shop's specialty. Because we were just a group of 4, we had small portions for most of the dishes.

are we having steamboat?

There was a small portable gas stove on our table, so I was wondering if we were going to have hotpot/steamboat. Indeed. One of the specialty that is only available at this outlet, is the Chicken Soup Set which uses half a kampung chicken and it even has pig's stomach. Came with a side of vegetables, which we can cook in the soup ala hotpot style.

Chicken Soup Set @$22 (half-chicken) 

The pepper taste was pleasantly good and not overpowering. The free-range chicken (kampung chicken) and pig's stomach combo with red dates resulted in delicious soup . It was ready to drink from the onset with lots of flavour but setting it to a boil with the rest of the vegetables gave it a deeper flavour.

kampung chicken and pig's stomach soup

My impression of kampung chicken was that it would be tough. The version that we had were surprisingly tender but yet flavourful. This was one of those dishes that one could enjoy with the young and old in the family. 

Since this chicken soup can also be the soup base for hotpot, simply order up additional plates of vege, meats (pork and chicken), seafood (prawns, squid or lala/clams) or fish. The price ranged from $1.80 to $7.80.

vegetables going into the soup

Assam fish is typically what one could find, but here, they have assam prawns instead. A tangy dish that whets the appetite for more.

If you have kids, then you might want to get the Cai Pu Beancurd. For me, I loved the soft egg tofu that was not overly eggy but yet smooth and silky. The toppings were caramelized with sugar hence, it has that sugary crunchy bite. The taste of cai poh was not apparent.

Assam Prawns @$15

Homemade Cai Pu Beancurd (菜脯豆腐) @$8

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Sambal kang kung (morning glory) or sweet potato leaves, these are the two favourite choice of diners. If you want to have both of them but don't want to pay for two plates of vegetable, well one could just ask for a mix of these two on one plate.

sambal kangkung and sweet potato leaves @$6

One of the popular dishes from its Teban Gardens main outlet is the Thousand Island Fish (千岛鱼). I think my dad would like this. For those who love creamy sauces like mayo, and something that's leaning towards the sweet side/

Thousand Island Fish @$10

Also had a chance to try White Pepper Crab and Salted Egg Crab (Fried). The former was stir-fried with lots of spring onions. Savoury and strong flavours. Fingers-licking good! The crab was meaty and sweet. White Pepper Crab with beer would make a good pair.

Salted Egg Crab @$40 (one crab)

White Pepper Crab @$40

This place is convenient, especially for those that are staying nearby at 710 Clementi West Street 2. Just come on down the block and voila, there's food! My favourites were the Chicken Hotpot and the White Pepper Crab.

Forest Orchidville Farm To Table @ 82 Sungei Tengah Rd

If it was not for my colleague, I would not have known that there is such a place called Orchidville at Sungei Tengah Rd. Located in a somewhat remote area and accessible by car. There is ample parking within its own compound and because it is a farm to table concept, almost all ingredients would have been homegrown.

The restaurant itself was huge and one could hold a wedding banquet here. The setup is typical Chinese restaurant with round tables and most importantly, it has lots of space between tables. Very comfy.

interior

There was a standee outside the restaurant proclaiming "Volcano Chicken" which piqued my interest. Never in my life, had I eaten any Volcano Chicken before...but alas, it is only available if you had pre-ordered it at least a day in advance. Aiyah. If anyone had tried this before, do drop me a message and let me know what was your verdict.

want to try this next time

The lady staff asked if we'd like "buah long long" juice. In my part of the world, it's called buah kedondong but ok lor, I like! It's English name is kind of hard, Spondias dulcis (or umbra) or 沙梨 in Chinese. Whatever it is called, I like to eat the fruit with dark sauce mixed with chili padi and sugar. In juice form, it must not be too diluted. Read about the health benefit of buah long long juice. The version at Orchidville was indeed refreshing and appetizing.

buah long long juice 

For food, we ordered crispy pork knuckles (one of their signature), stir fried sweet potato leaves, deep fried soon hock and a plate of seafood mee sua (rice vermicelli) for the birthday boy.

sweet potato leaves

seafood mee sua

The sweet potato leaves was very good. So good that we polished everything on that plate. Not even a single piece of leave left...

The mee sua was a surprise too. The texture of the noodles was quite firm and overall, it tasted like a plate of mee goreng instead.

deep fried soon hock

The fish was my favourite dish from the meat kingdom that night. It must have been a while since I've enjoyed a non-fillet kind of fish that wasn't in a burger form nor was it called sutchi. The flesh was sweet, the sauce on point and those crispy bits of minced garlic was just wow. That sauce and white rice, what a wonderful companion those two made. Happy belly times.

crispy pork knuckles

It was rather rare to have crispy pork knuckles in a Chinese zichar place. Though this was a signature dish, it was rather unfortunate that the meat turned out somewhat dry. The skin had a crisp outer but it was also somewhat chewy. I liked that this was eaten with the fresh green lettuces, so it felt rather balanced. The sweet savoury brownish sauce helped to moist the meat a bit but it wasn't a strong flavour.

There is a bowl of hae bee hiam that diners could help themselves to, so maybe that'll lift up the flavour when one does a meat wrap.

Overall, the food was inexpensive (mainly due to the 20% discount during dinner for the month of July) and portion was good.

Worth a visit with the family.

Orchidville

Address: 82 Sungei Tengah Rd, Singapore 698985
Website: http://www.orchidville.com.sg/
Contact: 6552 7003 / 9739 9602
Business Hours:
Daily Lunch: 1130am to 230pm
Daily Dinner: 530pm to 930pm

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famous Malaysian Food Street @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

The shop's name is quite a mouthful but hey, since it has Malaysian chefs cooking up street food, let's give it a try! Located at MyVillage Serangoon Gardens, level 2.

茨厂街 must-eats are chee cheong fun (steamed rice roll) that's paired with yong tau foo (tofu stuffed with minced meat), claypot lou shee fun (claypot bee tai mak with a raw egg in it), claypot chicken rice paired with ikan bakar (grilled fish) and so much more! Read about some of it here.

entrance

There's a couple of menus available; individual eats, or communal dining (zhichar) styled, or special menu of seafood hotpot. Seafood hotpot like this? A smaller version from its sister restaurant.

individual meal menu

So what did we try? Let's see the varieties sampled with Jennifer, Ivan, Alvin, Hence and Tracy.

curry chee cheong fun with yong tau foo @$6.80

pork trotters bee hoon @$8.80

The chee cheong fun was smooth and the curry complemented it well. And, how Malaysians like their local chee cheong fun? With yong tau foo, of course! The yong tau foo gave it some variety to avoid being too monotonous. The pork trotters were forgettable though.

Now, for the taste test. The KL hokkien mee. Ooh, don't forget the sambal which one have to take albeit self-service styled.

KL Seafood Hokkien Mee @$8.80

Happy to report that the hokkien mee came laden with lard bits at the bottom. So toss it up a bit before eating! The wok-hei was subtle but it kept us happy. Slurpiliciously good. The colour of the soy sauce was right. KL hokkien mee must be dark dark then nice.

round noodles? oh yes!

But of course, my preference of good tasty KL dark hokkien mee will always be the pork slices version with cabbage, chicken gizzard, crispy lard bits and fried with enough wok-hei.

Yong Tau Foo platter (own mix) @$1 per piece

Soy Sauce Chicken @$16 (small)

Another favourite of ours, was the delectable soy sauce chicken with its smooth gelatinous skin. The 滑滑 (wat wat in Cantonese) feels~. The marinade was good and strongly flavoured. Order this to satisfy meaty cravings.

All in all, we had a good meal and the service staff was friendly and has good knowledge of shop's namesake 茨厂街 (KL Chinatown).

Wishing you a happy meal at Petaling Street!

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famouse Malaysian Food Street

Address: 1 Maju Ave, 556679 Singapore
Contact: 6509 9872

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JalanPetalingFamousMalaysianStreetFood/

[Media Invite] Long Jiang Chinois @ Orto Park

Address is 81 Lorong Chencharu, located right inside of Orto Park. I always see this place from the MRT tracks when the train passes by. Inside the park, there are more than one eatery and Long Jiang Chinois entrance is right at the drop off point near the carpark.

The restaurant offers healthy housebrewed drinks such as the pumpkin barley drink. It has a nice orangey hue and tasted pretty much like barley. There were some small pieces of pumpkin that has natural sweetness to it when chewed. Thirst quenching and of light sweetness.

pumpkin barley drink @$3.80

As I was late, my table-mates saved me a plate of assorted appetisers. The ngoh hiang has an easygoing taste with some refreshing crunchy waterchestnut bits in it. I enjoyed the fish skin tremendously. Good tasting and the salted egg in 'powdery' form still packed a punch.

ngoh hiang and salted egg fish skin

deep fried baby squids @$14

It's always nostalgic when eating deep fried baby squid. This was one of the first few zichar dishes that I had when I was a kid. Crunchy and savoury sweet with the sticky glaze.

Seafood Hotpot @$128 (4 pax portion)

The highlight of the meal is the Seafood Hotpot which feeds about 4 to 5 pax. Diners could add more items into the hotpot, depending on their preferences by topping up the item price ala-carte. For example, one could add more prawns, change the fish to some other type, other types of seafood or simply more vegetables into the hotpot.

The chicken soup base was already flavourful and sweet. With the seafood, its flavour was further enhanced. Very soothing and comforting on a cooler nights.

yummy tender squid

The soon hock fish was sweet and smooth. It was like eating steamed fish which sat in a hotpot. Very nice and goes well with a bowl of white rice!

Rojak Chicken @$16

Stir Fried Fine Beans & Crispy Shredded Yam @$14

The Rojak Chicken dish was basically chicken cutlet in rojak sauce. For the purist, we'd likely be looking the you tiao (fried doughstick). The stir fried long beans was so good. There were some bits of bak kwa in there that gave the flavour profile a light twist.

Also sampled the Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon which was presented in a large bowl, with crab and bee hoon submerged in a yellow-hued broth. I was apprehensive about the taste of cheese in the soup but it came out pretty well. There wasn't any overpowering taste of the cheese as everything had melded into the rich broth. Slurpilicious!

Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon with Crab Roe @$44.80

Wait, don't leave till you've tried the Orh Nee dessert or also known as the yam paste dessert. Shareable between 6 pax. This is a must-try!

Orh Nee @$12

[Media Invite] Crab Corner and Heavenly Duck House 蟹天王 @ 1 Joo Koon Circle

Good news is that Crab Corner is directly accessible by Joo Koon MRT station. The not so good is only applicable for those staying far from Joo Koon! Crab Corner is located at Level 3, same level as the food court and NTUC. The restaurant is huge! At one glance, you'll see roasted meats on display and tanks of live seafood. Helmed by Chef Lau from Hong Kong, expects good roasts and tasty flavours.

cutting up delicious roasts

The place is suitable for large groups or cosy individuals. For example, one could order the roasted meat rice/noodle/congee starting from $7.80. Seemed like any cha chaan teng (茶餐厅) prices. The roasted meat here is indeed good, especially the fei po char siew (肥婆叉烧) or barbeque pork belly. Wah, those black caramelized char...so yums! The roasted pork in comparison was nice and mild. The skin was crackling and the meat was surprisingly quite lean.

barbeque pork belly (肥婆叉烧) @$18

roast pork (脆皮烧肉) @$11.80

crispy roast duck (脆皮天王烧鸭) @$16

soy sauce chicken (酱油鸡) @$12

Ah, you wouldn't have expected dim sum from a place that serves crabs, right? At least, I didn't. Not a lot of variety here but the siew mai with tobiko was nice and plump. The char siew bao sauce was somewhat different and tasty.

char siew bao (@$4.60), har gao and siew mai @$5.20 each

bursting at its seams

tasty char siew bao

If you are in a larger group, then there are zhichar dishes for communal dining as well. In general, the roasted meats at Crab Corner are pretty good. Their signature dishes of chili crab and black pepper crabs were enjoyable. Chunky sweet firm flesh and tasty sauce. So shioks! The curry fish head was very eatable with a bowl of steamed rice.

Black Pepper Crab (market price)

Chili Crab (market price)

Curry Fish Head

The spice in the curry fish head and the crabs were just nice. It has some kick but you wouldn't feel overwhelmed. Otherwise, order up a Purple Lover to cool the fire. Fancy sounding but essentially sprite with grape.

Purple Lover (情人雪) @$3.80

The restaurant is spacious and if you need privacy, they do have private room as well. At this place, we could order crabs and seafood dishes as well as favourite dim sum, roasted meats rice/noodle/congee and my favourite order of Hong Kong food, beef brisket.

feast for 8 pax

Thank you Priscilla, Hungrygowhere for the invite and Crab Corner for hosting the tasting.

Crab Corner and Heavenly Duck House 蟹天王

Location: 1 Joo Koon Circle #03-26, 629116
Website: www.crabcorner.com.sg
Contact: 6333 6969 
Business Hours:
Daily: 11:00 - 22:00